Rémy Cointreau is financing six solidarity-based climate actions in the United States and China, its two biggest markets, to capture or avoid more than 600,000 tonnes of carbon, which represents around four years’ carbon neutrality for the Group. The projects will also support initiatives to protect the regions and communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Three projects in the United States:
- Restoration planting of the fluvial ecosystems with the Pierce Conservation District: the Group is a partner in the project to improve the habitat of rivers and streams in the State of Washington where the Westland distillery is located. The project aims to re-establish 6,000 native trees and shrubs, such as red cedar, fir, maple and alder, along the banks of the rivers and streams in the region, to enhance the habitat of wild salmon and sequester carbon dioxide.
- Sustainable forest stewardship and protection of biodiversity with the Boone Conservation District: in the south-east of Kentucky in the Appalachian mountains, the Group is part of the Boone Forestry Project to encourage sustainable forest management. Besides reducing greenhouse gases, the programme promotes better freshwater runoff from this rugged region and protects the recently re-established elk population in the area.
- Energy transition with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: the Group is also involved in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) energy efficiency programme, working with students and teaching staff. The project has earned UIUC Second Nature’s climate leadership award.
Three projects in China:
- Reforestation in the Karst region: the Group has helped replant 33,000 hectares with native plants in the Karst region (a UNESCO World Heritage site) in southern China. This vast reforestation programme in a rocky and increasingly desertified region is important for both the environment and for the people that live there. It will create job and training opportunities for the 30,000 people in the local community, many of whom are women and from minority groups.
Funding hydropower projects
- Huóshui Grouped Small Hydropower project: Rémy Cointreau contributes to funding the construction of 100 hydropower plants in this remote mountain region in south-east China to provide clean energy to the local rural communities.
- In Hezhou: it has also co-financed another hydropower project in Hezhou, a town in the eastern region of Guangxi.
